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Video Card
RedLeather:
Okay so i need a video card...because my computer's burned out (Banned from the internet now, not games....but the first time i fired it up...Fizzzz...)
It had a Nvidia Geforce 5600 in it, but i'm curious, what in this forum's opinion is better? Nividia or Ati Radeon?
Back to the looking for a Video card question, i hjave a pretty big budget (2,000 dollars...I <3 grandparents that are secretly loaded) and Which is the best right now and which is better? Nvidia ? Ati? A third party? and keep in mind..these *must* be video gaming cards...So...ready? Help
Se7en:
2000 dollars on a video card? you are hard pressed to spend over £300 on a single card really. For that kind of money, you are probably talking about a whole set of possible upgrades, not just the card. Hell, you could squeeze an SLI upgrade perhaps (two graphics cards in one system for more grunt)
Now, the nvidia/ATI thing is practically a theological argument for a lot of people. People have their favorites, and honestly, half the time they dont have any real reason for choosing the favorite.
Right now however, Nvidia probably have the edge, simply because of the avaliability of SLI systems. This doesnt mean you shouldnt consider ATI though, but you need to judge each card on its OWN merits, not judge it by the brand.
There ARE no third parties that are worth a damn, and its been that way for a long time. You see, your ATI or Nvidia card just uses the GPU from the respective manufacturer, and the rest of the card is made by somebody else. So say an "MSI Geforce 6600GT" would be an Nvidia chip, on a board designed and built by MSI, and may or may not have the same specification and performance as another card with the same GPU, by a different company.
You get companies like gainward, who slap some faster memory on the card to make it perform better, and crank up the price accordingly. Between manufacturers you can have differences in GPU speed, Memory type, quantity, and speed, and differences in the cooling systems used.
Also, ATI and Nvidia use contractitory naming schemes. If an ATI card has "XT" tacked on the end of the model name, thats the superdooper version. If an Nvidia card has that suffix, that means its the crappy cut down version.
I think the first thing to decide, is are you spending the right amount of money, and in the right place? I dont know the exchange rates, but it sounds like a lot of dosh. Maybe your going to need other upgrades to get the most out of a new graphics card.
jhocking:
Frankly, that "no third party" explanation of videocards even extends beyond consumer cards. For high-end graphics work some people recommend Wildcats or whatever, but those are so single minded that consumer cards are usually a better choice.
est:
if you are looking to get a new fancypants video card then you'll probably be looking at either an nVidia geForce 7x00 series (eg: 7800 for top-of-the-line) or an ATI Radeon X1x00 series (eg: X1800 for top-of-the-line). however, seeing as the geforce 7x00 range seems prohibitively expensive right now and the X1x00 range doesn't seem to be available in Australia (and therefore, probably not available in NZ either) you're probably going to be looking at the geforce 6x00 range (eg: 6800) and the Radeon Xx00 range (eg: X800). the numbers scale down from there, and usually the mid-range product from each manufacturer (which usually the *600, i think?) is your best bang for your buck.
i also agree with basically everything that's already been said, especially what se7en said about making sure that you are not getting a video card that is overpowered for your system. there is not really any point to getting a top-rank video card if your system is hella old and your cpu or memory is going to bottleneck your performance anyways.
although, if the NZL dollar is anything like the AUD at the moment $2k will probably get a decent mid-range gfx card and upgrade your other gear if needed. $2k is basically a lot of money unless you are going for "enthusiast" gear (ie: top-of-the-line everything)
summary:
- if you have a decent pc then you might want to get either an nVidia geForce 6800GT or an ATI Radeon X850XT. you will probab ly be able to pick either up starting at around $750-$800 NZD
- if you need to upgrade your pc or don't want to spend that much money then you can probably get an nVidia geForce 6600GT or an ATI Radeon X600XT for about $250-$300 NZD, or a little more for models with more ram, or clocked higher, etc.
RedLeather:
Okay...Well, Here is what my computer is...a "monster" A.K.A. Dell Presiscion, so it's not going to bottleneck any time soon, and it has an SLI Slot...So i think i'll go with 2x Videocards...Doesn't Nividia have a card specially Designed PCI Express? I can't remember what it's called...and can't get on the site (....Nvidia.com= bad in school? Anyway it's blocked) If someone could get me that name..i'd love them forever and..i dunno, uy them a sheep? >>;
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